Israel unveils portable hunter-killer robot

[rs]

Now, this is just lovely...

Thu Mar 8, 10:26 AM ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli defense firm on Thursday unveiled a portable robot billed as being capable of entering most combat zones alone and engaging enemies with an onboard armory that includes a machine-pistol and grenades.

The VIPeR, roughly the size of a small television, was invented as part of Israel's efforts to develop weaponry that could reduce the risks to its forces from hand-to-hand fighting against Palestinian or Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.

The manufacturer, Elbit Systems Ltd., said that the VIPeR's small size and dual treads enable it to move "undeterred by stairs, rubble, dark alleys, caves or narrow tunnels."

As well as bomb-sniffing and bomb disposal equipment, the VIPeR can carry an Uzi machine-pistol or plant a grenade. The weapons would be aimed using an onboard video camera.

According to Elbit, which has close links with the Defense Ministry, Israel plans to deploy the VIPeR among its infantry units after field tests. The robot could also be of interest to foreign police units or U.S. forces in
Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is also highly useful for remotely killing Palestinian children. The domestic uses of this boggle the mind. Fortunately, one trivial countermeasure would be a simple paint gun. If you fire a paint ball at the video camera, it is blind. Even if the lens of the camera is covered with something that sheds paint (think of something like Teflon) if you blind it for only a minute, you can simply cover it with a tarp.

 

[Nienna]

This really is chilling. Just another toy for the Israeli soldiers to destroy innocents with. They probably can't wait to try it out. It makes me just want to scream.

And I can definitely see it being used by the U.S. in both military and civilian circumstances. All you need to run it is to be able to do video games. Then, killing becomes even more detached.

 

[vinny]

oh man, this is horrific.
and I just watched 'I Robot' the other day, with Asimov's robotic laws about 'not harming humans'. yeah, right

 

[CarpeDiem]

Israel is keeping its 'special mission' Hi-Tech business well-above-average level. Everybody strives for its techical excellence! Jeeez! Israel breeds technically skilled soulless ingeneers like in farms ... What the hell kibutz are? Are they incubators for psychopaths? I really have to read about where and how they grow all these engeneers!

 

[Mr. Premise]

I think Israel did not breed all their engineers. They let Russia do it for them and then they take the Russian "jews" into the country. Voila, millions of engineers without all those pesky education costs.

Israel is keeping its 'special mission' Hi-Tech business well-above-average level. Everybody strives for its techical excellence! Jeeez! Israel breeds technically skilled soulless ingeneers like in farms ... What the hell kibutz are? Are they incubators for psychopaths? I really have to read about where and how they grow all these engeneers!

 

[CarpeDiem]

Donald, i was thinking along the same lines, possibly Israel owes its recent high-tech 'success' not only to uncessant one-way flow of american taxes money into Israel but also to brain drain of educated in Russia/ussr physicists, matematicians, engineers. But still it's difficult to understand: One third of my classmates were jewish, all of them emidrated to Israel, but i still can't see any of them participating in any of high-tech Israeli genocide project. and i don't have any personal contacts with any of them for eternity.

They let Russia do it for them

you mean that soviet educational system has been specifically designed to raise genocidal robotoids without conscience?
i think something had to happen after they emigrated {if russian-educated Israeli are heavily involved in those military projects). Anyway, Keith obviously has a more objective view here as she/he knows educational systems in both countries not from articles on the net.
All this just pierces your being

 

[Mr. Premise]

Donald, i was thinking along the same lines, possibly Israel owes its recent high-tech 'success' not only to uncessant one-way flow of american taxes money into Israel but also to brain drain of educated in Russia/ussr physicists, matematicians, engineers. But still it's difficult to understand: One third of my classmates were jewish, all of them emidrated to Israel, but i still can't see any of them participating in any of high-tech Israeli genocide project. and i don't have any personal contacts with any of them for eternity.

They let Russia do it for them

you mean that soviet educational system has been specifically designed to raise genocidal robotoids without conscience?

No, I meant that they got the technical skills in Russia. What they do with them is probably no different from any other countries' engineers. I don't know anything about the Soviet education system to say whether it is designed to make conscienceless robots. I just know that those of that generation I worked with in the U.S. have had a high level of skills. Many engineers, because they like to solve technical problems, don't think too much about how the technology will be used. And, only a few of these projects are so clearly for bad purposes. Most technology can be used for any purpose. And, of course the 6% who are psychopaths don't care even if they knew.

That's amazing though that 1/3 of your classmates emigrated to Israel!

 

[seek10]

No, I meant that they got the technical skills in Russia. What they do with them is probably no different from any other countries' engineers. I don't know anything about the Soviet education system to say whether it is designed to make conscienceless robots. I just know that those of that generation I worked with in the U.S. have had a high level of skills. Many engineers, because they like to solve technical problems, don't think too much about how the technology will be used. And, only a few of these projects are so clearly for bad purposes.

That's amazing though that 1/3 of your classmates emigrated to Israel!

How many people in this world like their jobs?. Billions feel lucky to have a job. How many people have the courage to standup to their understanding of the reality.

Basic concepts of robots, food serving robots exist for couple of decades i believe. This is only matter of using military grade equipment for the purpose and mixing different technologies
. The projects like this will have different teams each team specialized in their field like, mechanical motor team , sensor groups like camera system, or infra red systems what ever they use , signal recognition team etc. one group design each subsystem and another group manufactures and all subsystem are integration and field tested by totally different team. Negligible amount of choice and control exist to the actual engineers or workers. They doesn't need to know what they are working on and what for they are used.

The only consciousless psychopathic person needed in the process is the person who funded this project and decides to use it for mass killing.

 

[Nathan]

I can see how effective this robot would be on Palestinian children. Most of them would mistake it for a toy. I did.